Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business

by John Elkington

Shows how business needs to help society achieve three interconnnected goals

Genres: Sustainability, Business, Nonfiction, Economics

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Professor John Elkington is an Executive Director of SustainAbility Ltd. A leading authority on the role of industry in sustainable development, he is a consultant to such organisations as BP, Procter & Gamble, USAID, and the UN Environment Programme.
He sits on advisory panels at the Merlin Ecology Fund and the Nature Conservancy Council. He has authored or co-authored numerous books and has published several hundred reports, papers and articles for a wide variety of journals, magazines and national newspapers.
On World Environment Day in June 1989, John Elkington was named to the United Nations Environment Programme's 'Global 500 Roll of Honour' for his 'outstanding environmental achievements'.

Reviews

[Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Cambridge Sustainability's Top 50 Books for Sustainability, as voted for by our alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. To find out more, click here.

Cannibals with Forks derives its title from the Polish poet, Stanislaw Lec, who asked: 'Is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork?' Elkington in turn asks, would it be progress if companies who 'devour competing corporations' and if industries who 'carve up and digest other industries' used the three-pronged fork of sustainability - i.e. if they embraced the triple bottom line of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social justice?

Citing companies including Nike, Wal-Mart, Levi Strauss, Volkswagen, Texaco, Intel, Volvo, Dow Chemical, Electrolux, Novo Nordisk and Shell, the book sets out seven dimensions of a sustainable future.

[Stef Garvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was instrumental in getting the sustainability movement going. But the read was very difficult. I could not get through it--even speed reading. Time to move on.

[Oky Septya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly finished it, eventually. Kalau ga karena bahan skripsi, saya mungkin bakal cuma baca summary atau executive note-nya. Anyway, it was all about seven revolution that I need to know so, I just skimmed it out about everything else. I got the big picture, since he's cited in everywhere, journals, articles, etc.

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spoke at “The Big Ideas Summit” in London, run by the Procurement Social Network, Procurious. At this event Professor Omera Khan, Professor of Supply Chain Management & Strategic Supply Chain Risk Expert at Royal Holloway University was speaking and she recommended this book, in fact most of her talk was about “The Triple Bottom Line”.

The triple bottom line (TBL) is a framework or theory that recommends that companies commit to focus on social and environmental concerns just as they do on profits. The TBL posits that instead of one bottom line, there should be three: profit, people, and the planet.

At the time of writing we have companies boycotting placing advertisements with Facebook, because they cannot control where those adverts appear and they can therefore appear next to hate speech or subject matter that the brands do not want to be associated with.

Brands today, know that their buyers are not just buying a product but the “belief system” around that brand, the company and the way it conducts business. You are not going to use a laptop or wear sneakers that are associated with a sweatshop in India or have mined the raw materials in an inappropriate way.

This is book goes into a lot of detail, it is after all a textbook, about the history of sustainability and why companies need to think about the triple bottom line. Note, it was also published in 1999, so it is starting to feel its age. There is little on the use of the internet driving buyer behaviours and the way that the internet has meant that the buyer has become even more fickle in the way we buy. That said, over all it’s a good book, but a long and serious read.

[Celso Ferreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro estimulante e que com incrível presciência intuiu a necessidade de mudança e alguns dos novos caminhos que a sociedade e as empresas devem trilhar rumo a um mundo mais sustentável, ou seja, mais equilibrado, justo e seguro. Um ótimo aprendizado sobre a importância de implementar a governança baseada nos três pilares: social, ambiental e econômico.

[Uge Fachrudin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literasi ini membantu saya meneliti tentang CSR dan hubungannya dengan Karakteristik Perusahaan. Saya menjadikan Internet Financial Reporting sebagai mediasinya.

[Monica Meagher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good steps for a business to follow but felt like there was a huge blind spot in applauding oil and chemical companies. Felt like author was lenient due to his consulting relationship.

[Joseph Hargreaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been the core reading to my University career. Great book that really highlights synergistic value of conscientious business operations. Don't try and tackle Capitalism head on, you use it's own weight to bring it down.

[Nura]

i am reading

[Alexander Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sustainability and triple bottom line (economics propserity, environmental quality, social justice) analysis

[Rocky Hill]

I have seen few years ago, Back then It's was fantastic.

[Gaspar Queiroz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talks about sustainable business at the turn of the millennium. Still so up to date!